Midnight Memories
by Keiya13
Summary: During the revolution, Battousai finds a little girl practicing Kendo in the middle of the night and can't help but stop to talk to her. Will a chibi Kaoru be able to prove to the hitokiri that he isn't as bad as he thinks he is? KK fluff


**Ello ducklings! Queen is here to give you an uber fluffy fic to satisfy your Kenshin/Kaoru sweet-tooth.**

**I'm writing this in study hall at school so I'm sure there'll be a lot of typos and dumb mistakes. If they bother you just tell me and I'll fix it. In all likeliness though no one will care enough about this story to do that.**

**That's alright…my ficcie makes me happy and that's all that matters.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

It was late at night as a young man walked silently through the forest, the sparse light of the moon seeming to slide off of him as if he were made of darkness itself. The only thing that seemed to catch the light was glowing amber eyes. 

Battousai had just completed an assignment and had to make a beeline though the forest to assure he would not be followed.

A sudden noise had him crouched into a battle position, one hand on the hilt of his katana as he flicked the sword slightly out of its sheath with his thumb. Pressing himself against a tree he quietly slid closer to the source of the sound…and nearly choked in surprise when he did.

There was a little girl, probably no older than five or six, practicing kendo stances with a miniature bokken.

He watched in fascination as she screamed as loud as her little lungs would let her, executing moves that were surprisingly complex for a child.

A few minutes later she dropped her bokken and fell to her knees panting.

Before he realized he was doing it Battousai found himself walking towards her.

"Whose there?" The little girl immediately leapt to her feet and picked up her bokken, holding it in a shaky defensive stance.

The hitokiri stopped as he spotted fear in her eyes. How could he blame her? In times like these a strange man lurking in the shadows could mean death.

"Daddy?" the girl asked, her voice shaking a little.

"Iie" Battousai shook his head and took one step closer, letting the light of the full moon completely bathe his form and reveal to this girl that his hands were raised to prove that they were no where near the swords resting at his hip. "Just a swordsman passing by"

All fear vanished from the girl's face as she lowered her bokken. "Hello my name is Kamiya Kaoru"

Battousai blinked. "You shouldn't let your guard down…I might be a bad person" he informed her as he crouched down to be eye level with the girl "I might want to hurt you"

"Well if you really are a swordsman my guard wouldn't do much good anyways" Kaoru informed him "and since you haven't hurt me yet I think you're not a bad person" as she said this, her face lit up in a brilliant smile.

_Not a bad person_

The words echoed in his head as he stared at the child some more "my name is Himura Kenshin"

"Pleased to meet you Kenshin-kun!" Kaoru took his large hand in both of her tiny ones and shook it enthusiastically.

"I'm pleased to meet you too Kaoru-chan" he smiled warmly at the girl "but what are you doing out here all alone in the middle of the night?"

"Daddy doesn't let me practice kendo with the boys anymore" Kaoru informed him. From that statement he guessed she lived in a dojo and her father was the master "and he doesn't have much time to teach me so I came out here to practice and be better so someday I can be the assistant master of the Kamiya Kassin style!"

"He's probably very worried about you" Battousai reprimanded the girl "you should go back"

Kaoru nodded and turned, ready to take his advice and leave the clearing. Battousai watched as she turned this way and that, turning in circles.

"Is something wrong?" Battousai asked.

Kaoru turned large, expressive, tear-filled eyes to the man "I don't remember the way" she said, her voice broken by a sob as she began to cry.

"Sssh" Kenshin soothed, keeling down once more to pull the girl into a warm embrace. It felt  at first…almost like he was committing a terrible sin for comforting this little innocent when he was so tainted however he knew he had to get this child back to her father "don't worry Kaoru-chan" he said "you live in Edo right?"

Sniffing, Kaoru nodded "uh huh" her tears had already subsided due to the man's embrace. He felt so…safe.

"I'll take you there" he easily lifted the girl into his arms and began to walk back to the very place he had come from.

"Thank you so much Kenshin-kun!" Kaoru wrapped her tiny arms around his neck in a hug "I knew you were a nice person"

Kenshin smiled ruefully as he walked quickly through the woods, taking a different route than he had come by in case his enemies were tracking him. He would not let this child get caught up in his battles.

Ever

* * *

It was well past midnight when a mysterious young man with glowing amber eyes walked into Edo, carrying a small bundle wrapped in his outer gi to protect her lithe body from the chill. He was the only soul on the streets as he strolled, eyes darting this way and that way searching for any hint of the Kamiya Dojo. Kaoru was fast asleep and he was unwilling to wake her and ask for directions…some selfish part of him enjoyed taking care of this child…this beautiful soul of a girl whose looks promised to develop into a beautiful woman someday too. 

He hoped she lived a long and happy life.

"Kaoru! Kaoru where are you?" A frantic man caught the Battousai's attention as he ran onto the main street that the hitokiri occupied, crying out the name of the girl Battousai was cradling close to his chest. Battousai watched as the man, armed with a mere wooden sword, fell to the ground, his head in his hands. It was obvious that he was on the verge of panic.

Most likely this was Kaoru's father.

"Kamiya-san?" the man jerked his head up and stood, holing his wooden sword in the same defensive position Kaoru had used when she was first startled by him.

"Who wishes to know?" Kamiya demanded evenly, cautiously. Battousai nodded in approval…he seemed like an intelligent and reasonable man.

Battousai sighed and once again took a step away from the shadows he had taken care to stay in so that the man could see him in the moonlight.

Kamiya studied Battousai for a while, his eyes darting from the flaming red hair to the long scar running from his right eye down to his chin (A.N- Remember Battousai didn't get an X until the night he gave up being an assain), and finally moving down to the katana and wakizashi hanging on his hips. Battousai saw what he hoped he wouldn't see in this man…recognition. It wasn't that much of a surprise…his looks were unique and his skill at his occupation was now legendary. Everyone knew and feared the name of Battousai.

"Do you have business with me Battousai?" Kamiya asked squaring his shoulders in resignation…the man probably thought that the famous manslayer had come to claim another life.

"I do" Battousai took another step towards Kamiya, who made no move to get away but instead stood proud in the face of what he believed to be death. Kamiya's eyes darted to Battousai's hand, which had moved to the bundle he was holding in his other. He drew back the cloth to reveal the small girl he had taken into his care.

"KAORU!" ignoring the fact that a skilled assain was standing before him, he rushed towards his unconscious daughter.

Battousai gingerly handed the still slumbering girl to her father, who clutched her in his large arms, tears of relief running down his face.

"She is merely asleep" Battousai assured him. Kamiya looked up in shock at the young man, who was looking at the little girl as she squirmed a little bit in her sleep to get more comfortable.

"You…" Kamiya didn't know what to say but he didn't need to. Battousai knew what he wanted to ask. What was a manslayer doing with his daughter? Why was a manslayer helping a lost girl back to her father?

"I found her in the forest on the outskirts of the city" Battousai said "practicing kendo"

"Practicing ken…" Kamiya repeated in complete shock "she left and scared me to death to practice kendo?"

Battousai smiled gently as he once again looked at the young girl "take care, Kamiya" he informed the man, placing a hand on little Kaoru's head before turning and walking away without a word but what he left unspoken rang loud in the older man's ears…

_...take care of her_

"Battousai" the hitokiri stopped but did not turn, signifying that he was listening "you will always be welcome in my home"

"Are you sure you want to say this to a manslayer?" Battousai asked, tilting his head back a little bit.

"I don't want to think about what could have happened to Kaoru…I know now that you aren't a bad person…just misguided"

_Not a bad person_

"If ever you decide to give up the life you're leading my doors are always open"

"Maybe one day" Battousai said, though both of them knew he had no intention of ending his career or seeing the man and his daughter ever again. Young people could be so foolish in their views of justice.

And with that, he slid back into the shadows and was gone.

Kamiya stared after the man, no…stared after the boy. Battousai couldn't have been much older than sixteen…to think that one so young could have so much skill….

…could take the life of others…

And to think that the same man who became famous as a demon would be so kind as to save his daughter.

"What have you done little Kaoru?" Kamiya whispered as he began to walk home, cradling the precious little life in his arms "to wiggle your way into even the Battousai's heart?"

Standing on the roofs overhead, shrouded in shadows was the very man mentioned, watching over the father and daughter to make sure they got home…something inside of him wanted to make sure that those two made it through this harsh war. Maybe he was compensating for his own lost innocence by protecting theirs…maybe it was the words that still rang in his head…

_Not a bad person…_

Did they really believe a man like him could lead a moral life?

Though the thought of living that simply life _was_ appealing, he had to change the ways of the government, fight for a new era where people like little Kaoru could grow without fear or pain.

He would fight for Kaoru, fight for Kamiya, fight for the innocence he had thrown away to spare the innocence of others.

And with one last glance at the pair, entering a dojo, he turned and quickly dispersed from Edo…never to return again.

* * *

Ten Years Later

"You're welcome in this dojo" the young woman informed him in thanks. He had saved her from Gohei and his gang, this mysterious stranger who seemed somehow familiar.

Himura Kenshin kept his face even but internally he gasped. He had not heard the words for over ten years, but the memory came back to him like a flood breaking through a dam. He remembered the little girl he had found in the forest, he remembered her frantic father, he remembered their words, the words that had been his inspiration when guilt of his past would overcome him…

_You're not a bad person…_

Could this really be the same girl?

_My home will always be welcome to you_

This memory had tugged on his heartstrings, and although he should leave her, he should keep wandering to atone for his sins…the ex-hitokiri Battousai could not help but accept…in honor of a man who kept his morals in the darkest of times and his little daughter who held a soul so pure and precious she could show compassion towards a man who lived a life she detested.

In honor of them…Himura Kenshin agreed to stay in the Kamiya dojo…

….Just for a little while…

* * *

Several Years Later

"Kenshin?" Kaoru paused as her husband of two months stopped at a clearing in the forest just outside of Tokyo, their home.

"Oh I know this place" she said excitedly "I came out here when I was a little girl to practice kendo"

"Really?" Kenshin smiled in amusement, pretending that he didn't know this fact already.

"Yeah one time I came out here and stayed for hours"

Kenshin could believe that, remembering that the little girl had collapsed in exhaustion. "What happened?"

"I guess I wandered into Tokyo and Daddy found me" Kaoru shrugged "it was a long time ago. By the time I remembered it Daddy was already gone…"

Kenshin didn't want to let the silence to continue or he knew her thoughts would lead to the saddening fact that the man she had admired the most was gone forever. Pulling her into his arms, he sat down against a tree, "he was a good man," Kenshin said.

Kaoru smiled slightly "how would you know?" she asked sarcastically "you never met him"

"I did meet him" Kenshin replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Kenshin you would have still been fighting in the revolution to have met him," Kaoru told him, turning in the circle of his arms to face him and gently tug on a lock of his fiery red bangs for punishment of his lying.

"I only met him once" Kenshin said, "it's quite an unbelievable story though"

"Tell me" Kaoru insisted, interested now.

"I _was_ still fighting for the revolution" Kenshin began "and right after completing an assignment I was running from Edo back to the Imperialist stronghold…"

Kaoru nodded, leaning her head on his shoulder as she tilted her face so she could look at his.

"When I found the strangest thing in the forest"

"What was it?" Kaoru asked.

"A little girl" Kenshin said, his grin growing wider as he watched the reaction on her face. "A tiny girl standing in this clearing in the middle of the night…practicing Kendo"

Kaoru gasped, "you're…lying aren't you?"

Kenshin shook his head "a little girl practicing kendo in the middle of the night got lost and couldn't find her way back to Edo where her father was falling to pieces worrying about her"

Kaoru's mouth moved to speak but she couldn't find anything to say. "I…remember" she gasped "I got lost and the swordsman carried me all the way home…that was…you?"

Kenshin laughed and nodded "hai Koishii it was sessha" he confirmed.

"You seemed a lot bigger then" Kaoru informed him.

"That's because you were so tiny" Kenshin laughed "I never forgot the night a little girl hugged the hitokiri Battousai and told him what a nice person he was"

"So I was smart even back then" Kaoru smiled, idly tracing invisible patterns on his chest.

"Ah, Koishi" Kenshin agreed, "you gave a moment of happiness to a man who all but forgot the meaning of the word"

"Mou" Kaoru blushed at the compliment; she had never been good at responding to them.

Kenshin grinned as he leaned down to nuzzle his wife "thank you Kaoru" he whispered "for everything"

Kaoru smiled, enjoying the attention "I should be the one thanking you. You could have just left me in the dark to get picked off by wolves…Kenshin-_kun_" she added the suffix with a giggle.

"If I had done that then today I would be wifeless, homeless, and miserable" Kenshin replied honestly

Kaoru smiled happily and snuggled closer to him, giving one last happy sigh before falling asleep.

Kenshin watched his wife for a long time, thinking of the time a demonic teenager realized just how lost his soul was in the presence of a little angel who already knew the real meaning of righteousness and kindness. "Thank you kami-sama" Kenshin prayed "I'll take care of your angel forever". Brushing a stray strand of hair from her face, Kenshin bent down to kiss her forehead "never change koishii"

In reply Kaoru shifted in her sleep to get more comfortable and gave a contented sigh.

* * *

**Wow**

**So I was really intending to just stop the story right after Battousai leaves Chibi Kaoru and her father during the bakumatsu but I had a double study hall that day I and I was really freaking bored so I just continued on with the story. I know the longer it got the stupider it got but it satisfied my boredom so maybe you can find it in your hearts to forgive me.**

**Review cause you love me and cause I love you! You can even tell me how lame my romance is and I'll just be happy that I got a review.**

**A strange fact: In the real world I pretend to be disgusted by romance…so really I'm a closet romantic. It'll be our little secret :wink: (I also don't wink in real life or act like a girly girl at all...I must have an alter ego or something.**


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